The winning design will be announced in mid-May, following a series of community forums to receive input about the museum from students, faculty, staff and the community. Construction is anticipated to begin next year.

The museum will include the Fine Arts Collection at UC Davis, which contains more than 5,000 works from antiquities to contemporary art. The building will be built on a 1.6-acre site near the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the UC Davis Conference Center and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall. It will serve as the capstone of a planned “arts district” at the university’s new front door alongside Interstate 80.

Renderings from the three architectural finalists show what the new museum could look like. From left: Henning Larsen Architects’ “The Leaf,” SO – IL’s “Grand Canopy” and WORKac’s “The Slant”; also, photos in slideshow by Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis